


and i know it's not your fault

by AzureNight



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Calamity!Link, Calamity!Zelda, Child Abuse, F/M, Fluff and Angst, dont abuse your kids or they become demon lords
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27900889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureNight/pseuds/AzureNight
Summary: Defying prophecy is a fool’s errand; the Calamity will be of the king’s own making.A series of short, loosely connected one-shots, from a universe where prophecies are self-fulfilling, and abusing children leads to severe consequences. Updates sporadically.
Relationships: Great Deku Tree & Link (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Urbosa & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	and i know it's not your fault

**Author's Note:**

> title from icon for hire's song 'sorry about your parents.' go check it out if you don't know it it's really good.
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy reading this! :)

Link trips over a fallen log, stumbles, and faceplants into the mud; not the most dignified of situations. He spit out mud, and tries to brush if off his face—though ends up smearing it. Brushing himself off, he gets up, and keeps on walking. He really shouldn’t be here—trapsizing in the Lost Forest, at night, with nothing but a traning sword to protect himself. (In retrospect, maybe he shouldn’t have accepted the dare. Also in retrospect, maybe his fellow soldiers shouldn’t have dared a ten-year-old to go into the Lost Woods.) There are meant to be monsters that drive people out—wicked spirits that protect the Blade of Legend hidden in the forest.

Personally, he thinks it’s a load of rubbish. Ganon, sure, he’s real, Hylia, she exists, but a hylian hero with a sword? The person who’s going to defeat Ganon, a Demon Lord? Stupid, really. Just another myth that Hylian society of old made up to make themselves feel more important.

He’s almost whacked in the face by a low-hanging branch, and firmly reminds himself to pay attention to where he’s going. He should be retracing his steps, having explored most of the forest and finding nothing. (Hopefully, he’s not going in circles. That seems like a trick the Spirits would play—let him think he’s making his way out, when he’s really walking further and furtehr into the forest.)

There’s an outcropping of rock that he recognises, so he runs towards it. Big hollow log, tunnel-looking thing, check. He’s pretty sure he came in through there. The fog starts to thin as he walks, too, the air getting lighter. He must be getting closer to the exit

Of course, he couldn’t actually be that lucky.

He’s in a clearing. Before if him stands a giant, flowering tree, around him, the snickering spirits who tricked him into coming here. There was no outcropping of rock at the beginning of his journey, he remembers. But the malevolent koroks have no qualms messing with his mind, for their entertainment.

There is the sound of cracking wood, and a loud yawn, and the flowering tree opend woody eyes to stare at him—and Link stands there petrified, unable to move. It has a mouth—it is going to eat him, he thinks hysterically. He should have said goodbye to his father. Should have told his mother he loved her. Should never have come in here in the first place. Now he’s going to be eaten by a giant tree.

“Come closer, little one,” the tree says. Not knowing what else he can do, Link complies, steps forwards until he is directly before it (but hopefully out of biting range). The tree blinks, appraising him. “You’re very late, little Hero. We have all missed you, these past few years.”

“You’re not going to eat me?” Link blurts out, before slapping a hand over his mouth. The tree laughs.

“No, little Hero. I only eat sunlight,” says the tree, in a tone that means he’s laughing at Link. “You would not be very good food.”

Link narrows his eyes. “Are you going to make someone _else_ eat me?”

“No, little Hero. No-one in this forest will eat you. We are all friends—you were a dear friend of mine, in your past incarnation. It will be a joy to befriend you again.”

Link thinks on it, for a little bit, before nodding. “Okay,” he says quietly, more to himself than to the tree. “Okay,” he says again, louder. “I’ll be your friend. But only if you don’t trick me anymore.”

“Of course; I apologise that we had to trick you. I only wanted to see you again, as did everyone else.”

Everyone else? 

Link looks around, and indeed there are smaller trees watching him and the big tree talking. They look friendly, and are wearing funny masks. (Something about masks makes him feel strange, for a passing moment, almost like deja vu.)

He turns back to the big tree; if he’s really going to have a friend, he needs to introduce himself. “Hello, I’m Link and I’m going to be a knight. What’s your name?”

(It’s only after he’s left the forest and is making his way back to the military camp, early the next morning, that he realises he was speaking freely.)


End file.
